The National Optical Astronomy Observatories (NOAO) is a partner in a
multi-institutional center involved in the rapidly developing field of
adaptive optics, which promises to revolutionize astronomy and vision science.

The National Science Foundation's governing body, the National Science
Board, has approved a proposal to establish a Center for Adaptive Optics
at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Adaptive optics (AO) is a method to actively compensate for changing
distortions that cause blurring of images. It is used in astronomy to correct
for the blurring effect of turbulence in the earth's atmosphere and can give
ground-based telescopes the same clarity of vision that space telescopes
achieve by orbiting above Earth's atmosphere. The same technology has
the potential for use in the diagnosis of retinal disease.

In the practice of AO, a telescope monitors the distortion of
light from a bright star or artificial laser source, and then uses
sophisticated computer techniques to bend the telescope mirror hundreds of
times per second to compensate for the distortion.

"In astronomy, our needs are for increasingly complex and
sophisticated systems, whereas in vision science, the emphasis is likely to
be on miniaturization and creating more human-friendly systems for use in
health care," said Jerry Nelson, director of the Center for Adaptive Optics
and professor of astronomy and astrophysics at UCSC.

Pioneering work in AO is being done by Dr. Thomas Rimmele, an
astronomer at the National Science Foundation's National Solar Observatory
(NSO) at Sacramento Peak, New Mexico. Rimmele has developed reliable AO
technology that takes 800 frames/second of the solar surface pattern to
map out and remove atmospheric distortions. Hot gases bubbling to the
solar surface produce the pattern which astronomers refer to as solar
granulation.

Techniques developed by Rimmele can be used in both solar and
nighttime astronomy. Rimmele's work is particularly significant since he is
working in visible light, not infrared, where the shorter wavelengths make the
process more challenging. These techniques developed at NSO are for use on
extended objects with low contrast surface features, conditions common to
the solar surface and human retina. Nighttime astronomy uses a single bright
source to map distortions.

Analyzing adaptively-corrected images will require new sophisticated
computer programs. NOAO scientists and programmers will work with their
colleagues at CfAO to develop and disseminate this complex software to
the community. This is a natural role for NOAO, the developer and
maintainer of IRAF, the most broadly distributed astronomical data analysis
software available. IRAF is is used by more than 5000 astronomers at 1500
sites around the world.

The Adaptive Optics Project at NSO/Sac Peak is described at these web sites:

NOAO is a partner in the multi-institutional Center for Adaptive Optics
(CfAO), which will coordinate the efforts of researchers across the country
involved in the rapidly developing field of adaptive optics (AO). AO
is a method to actively compensate for distortions that cause blurring of
images. AO has the potential to revolutionize both astronomy and vision
science.

Pioneering work in adaptive optics (AO) is being carried out by astronomers
at the National Science Foundation's National Solar Observatory at Sacramento
Peak, New Mexico. The image of solar granulation shown on the left has been
corrected with an AO system; the uncorrected image on the right is of a
slightly different field but was obtained simultaneously. Image credit:
AURA/NOAO/National Science Foundation.
Photo Credit:
AURA/NSF/National Science Foundation

The National Solar Observatory is one of four division of the National Optical
Astronomy Observatories (NOAO). NOAO is operated by the Association of
Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc. under cooperative agreement with
the National Science Foundation.